San Francisco is known for its outspoken radicals, and brilliant if eccentric chef Daniel Patterson is the culinary version. He may be best known for his article in The New York Times last fall needling his fellow Bay area chefs for being too conservative and endlessly copying the style of Alice Waters.

Patterson likes modern techniques and unexpected flavor juxtapositions. He made his name at now-defunct Elisabeth Daniel. Later at Frisson, his avant-garde food proved too outré for even that hip clientele. In April, Patterson opened this tiny gem.

At Coi, in North Beach, Patterson retreats a bit, but not much. He froths a bowl of bright-orange carrot soup and laces it with slivers of pickled mango. He slices raw sea scallops and tops them with shavings of Meyer lemon, avocado and radish. A bowl of lamb consummé sets off pink slices of roasted lamb around a mélange of artichokes, spring onions and lavender. The tastes and textures are rooted in comfort foods, but Patterson raises the stakes with vivid accent flavors and picture-perfect colors.

Comfy, high-backed, built-in banquettes line the modern dining room at Coi, an archaic French word for “tranquil”. A small lounge offers single plates and a quiet environment worlds away from the strip clubs elsewhere in the neighborhood.

Patterson hopes to expand the wine list, now at 115 entries, to about 200. It’s organized by style (“crisp dry whites,” “earthy, spicy reds”) and hits some high notes with the likes of E. Guigal La Mouline 1984 and 1994 (less than $300 each) and Comte Georges de Vogüé Bonnes Mares 1995 ($340), but also has some nice options for less than $50, such as Kuentz-Bas Pinot Gris Alsace Tradition 2004 ($42).